Nicotine fights fear, anxiety, PTSD

Nicotine has been badly and unfairly demonized by the anti-smoking Nazi control freaks. It has so many positive medicinal uses, the Native Americans realized this long ago. And yes, it does have a pronounced calming affect and energizer at the same time.

There might be something to this. I have PTSD from some pretty nasty things that happened to me during my childhood and as an adult. I chew nicotine gum and have noticed a marked decrease in PSTD symptoms for the past 3 1/2 years I've been chewing. It doesn't alleviate symptoms when I'm in periods of extreme stress but now that I think of it the nicotine helps! Figures, I quit smoking and now I'm addicted to the gum. My doctor says its still better than smoking.

Quoting: He Is Risen Indeed

I'm an ex-cigarette smoker, haven't had one since 1986. A few years after I quit I developed an anxiety disorder, at the time I just thought it was mid-life crisis, but in looking back now I can see the link to PTSD symptoms and tobacco.

In an attempt to ease my anxiety my GP prescribed Xannax which has huge side effects and didn't really help. Over the course of that year I also tried Ambin for insomnia which helps you get to sleep, but leaves you feeling like a zombie the next day.

Anyway, today I smoke cannabis and have been doing so over the last 10 years which has eliminated the anxiety and has made me quite fearless... On top of that I was able to stop taking a blood pressure medication.

(...)The U.S. government had to deal with that. They understood that the pipe would allow peaceful transactions because no Indian would ever lie once spoken on the pipe."

By dishonoring the meaning of this sacred practice, treaties were broken and land was taken but the benefits were short-lived, as White Deer of Autumn explains, "When the Europeans started to use tobacco, they saw it as a market, and thus corrupted its function. Now it is being misused, and you see what happens when a gift that has been given is misused."

I'd say it has definitely helped me through my PTSD throughout the earthquake/nuclear crisis here. I chain smoked for 2 weeks after that all happened. It kept me from losing my shit while watching Fukushima blow it's top and during the constant dizzying aftershocks.

Smoking is not a virus but here they are talking about an anti-smoking vaccine:

Professor Ronald Crystal of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York said: The new vaccine contains a harmless virus that has been engineered to carry the genetic information to make anti-nicotine antibodies. [link to www.couriermail.com.au]

anti-nicotine antibodies??? It's unbelivable how low can get such whorified doctors!

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 33192384

The truth is that the anti-smoking vaccine targets VMAT2 gene, called the God gene.

Geneticist Dean Hamer has suggested that the VMAT2 gene correlates with spirituality using data from a smoking survey, which included questions intended to measure "self-transcendence". Hamer performed the spirituality study on the side, independently of the National Cancer Institute smoking study. His findings were published in the mass-market book The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-Wired Into Our Genes. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Mice were injected with nicotine free base 2mg/kg, sc, four times daily for 14 days and killed 12-72h after drug discontinuation. VMAT2 protein was increased in the striatum of nicotine-treated mice in a time-dependent fashion at all times studied. Furthermore, in situ hybridization studies demonstrated that VMAT2 mRNA was elevated in the substantia nigra pars compacta and ventral tegmental area, indicating enhanced gene expression and subsequent protein synthesis. [link to europepmc.org]

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 33192384

Here's some info of saints that used tobacco that most likely contributed to the activation of the God gene (VMAT2) by nicotine.

Holy SmokersVenerable Marie Thérèse de Lamourous, having been shown the mantle of St. Teresa of Avila in the Carmelite convent in Paris, was allowed to put it on:“I kissed it; I pressed it upon me,” she wrote, “I remarked everything, even the little stains, which seemed to be of Spanish snuff.”Tobacco use became an issue during the beatification investigations of Joseph of Cupertino, John Bosco, and Philip Neri. With the first two, the devil’s advocates argued that heroic virtue did not apply because they used tobacco.Joseph’s advocate argued, based on interviews with Joseph during his life, that his smoking was an aid to his holiness, helping him stay up at night for his devotions and extend his fasting. In the case of Philip Neri, the examination of his corpse during the investigation showed that the soft tissuesof his nose had gone and so his body was not incorruptible. It was suggested that this was due to his heavy use of snuff. But these were weak arguments against their saintliness.Bernadette Soubirous had childhood asthma and her physician prescribed snuff for it (her snuff box is on display at Lourdes, right). When she was sixteen, in school, she later remembered, “One Sister was shocked when I started everybody sneezing by passing snuff around while she droned away in French.” After she had entered the convent later in life, “She produced her snuff box at recreation one day, to the great scandal of a Sister.She cried out: ‘Oh, Sister Marie-Bernard, you will never be canonized.’ ‘Why not?’ asked the ‘snuffer.’‘Because you snuff. That bad habit almost disqualified St. Vincent de Paul.’ ‘And you, Sister Chantal,’ twinkled Sister Marie-Bernard in reply, ‘you are going to be canonized because youdon’t indulge.’” St. John Vianney took snuff, often during his hours-long sessions hearing confessions. Padre Pio kept his snuff in a little pocket of his habit, and passed snuff around to his visitors. A biographer wrote that, “One evening, during a conference with oncologists, in the midst of a report oncancer research, Padre Pio turned to one of the men and asked, ‘Do you smoke?’ When the man replied in the affirmative, Pio, pointing his finger censoriously, chided, ‘That’s very bad,’ then, with almost the same breath, turned to another doctor and asked, ‘Have you got any snuff?’” [link to www.catholicworldreport.com]

At Catholicism Pure, Fr Cumanus tells us that St Teresa of Avila, St Alphonsus Liguori and St John Vianney (the Cure d’Ars) took snuff, which was ‘the appropriate form of tobacco consumption for distinguished ecclesiastics’. [link to churchmousec.wordpress.com] mmunion/

Some devotees of Padre Pio have smelled a pleasant fragrance, roses, wild flowers or a cigar smoke scent. They believe this indicates his presence, a warning or a message of some kind. [link to www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com]

Notice how in a lot of recent Hollywood movies smoking is made popular again. For a long time, you would rarely see an actor smoke on the mainstream screen, now it sort of comes back.

I know people who died of lung cancer and never touched a cigarette in their entire life as well as people who smoked their entire life and died of old age. I for one don't worry or wonder about all this anymore, I enjoy a casual cigarette and even some cannabis every once in a while.

I think there's a difference though between normal and natural tobacco, as its mostly all the additives in the industry tobacco that harm the body.

The ensemble of studies to date suggest that under certain conditions nicotine can act as an anxiolytic and an antidepressant, but that following chronic use, adaptations to nicotine can occur resulting in increased anxiety and depression following withdrawal. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Psychiatric research has documented that enhanced noradrenergic postsynaptic responsiveness in the neuronal pathway (brain circuit) that originates in the locus coeruleus and end in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala is a major factor in the pathophysiology of most stress-induced fear-circuitry disorders and especially in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The LC neurons are probably the origin of the first or second “leg” of the "PTSD circuit." An important 2005 study of deceased American army veterans from World War II, was shown combat-related PTSD to be associated with a postmortem diminished number of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) on the right side of the brain.The locus coeruleus may figure in clinical depression, panic disorder, and anxiety. The locus coeruleus is activated by stress, and will respond by increasing norepinephrine secretion, which in turn will alter cognitive function. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Systematically administered nicotine in low doses increases the firing rate of rat locus coeruleus (LC) neurons. In the present study, this action of nicotine was found to be prevented by pretreatment with kynurenic acid (1 &#956;mol; i.c.v.). [link to www.sciencedirect.com]

Contrary to a widely accepted theory, increased activity of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons does not appear to potentiate anxiety; instead, the influence of LC activity may be opposite to this. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Previous electrophysiological experiments have shown that the marked but short-lasting excitation of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons seen after systemic administration of low doses of nicotine is of a peripheral origin. In addition, nicotine induces a weak but more long-lasting activation of LC neurons which is preferentially observed following administration of high doses of the drug. [link to link.springer.com]

Quoting: Mister Y 33140483

Funny you should submit this now. Only yesterday I passed the small group of outcasts who smoke outside my high-tech company at a special "smoking station". I smoked 40 years ago as a young adult and I"m glad I quit. But on the other hand, I still recall nicotine's powerful anti-anxiety properties and given the way modern life is, if I smoked now I probably would not be able to function without it. And I'd probably be a calmer more relaxed person than I am. But on the other hand I might be dead so ... life is a trade off.

Smoking is not a virus but here they are talking about an anti-smoking vaccine:

Professor Ronald Crystal of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York said: The new vaccine contains a harmless virus that has been engineered to carry the genetic information to make anti-nicotine antibodies. [link to www.couriermail.com.au]

anti-nicotine antibodies??? It's unbelivable how low can get such whorified doctors!

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 33192384

Oh. My. God.

If they have their way, people will soon become walking chemical cocktails.

I do so hope people wake up to the inanity of a vaccine for everything, and blind trust in "scientific research" that is anything but.

The ensemble of studies to date suggest that under certain conditions nicotine can act as an anxiolytic and an antidepressant, but that following chronic use, adaptations to nicotine can occur resulting in increased anxiety and depression following withdrawal. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Psychiatric research has documented that enhanced noradrenergic postsynaptic responsiveness in the neuronal pathway (brain circuit) that originates in the locus coeruleus and end in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala is a major factor in the pathophysiology of most stress-induced fear-circuitry disorders and especially in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The LC neurons are probably the origin of the first or second “leg” of the "PTSD circuit." An important 2005 study of deceased American army veterans from World War II, was shown combat-related PTSD to be associated with a postmortem diminished number of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) on the right side of the brain.The locus coeruleus may figure in clinical depression, panic disorder, and anxiety. The locus coeruleus is activated by stress, and will respond by increasing norepinephrine secretion, which in turn will alter cognitive function. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Systematically administered nicotine in low doses increases the firing rate of rat locus coeruleus (LC) neurons. In the present study, this action of nicotine was found to be prevented by pretreatment with kynurenic acid (1 &#956;mol; i.c.v.). [link to www.sciencedirect.com]

Contrary to a widely accepted theory, increased activity of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons does not appear to potentiate anxiety; instead, the influence of LC activity may be opposite to this. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Previous electrophysiological experiments have shown that the marked but short-lasting excitation of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons seen after systemic administration of low doses of nicotine is of a peripheral origin. In addition, nicotine induces a weak but more long-lasting activation of LC neurons which is preferentially observed following administration of high doses of the drug. [link to link.springer.com]

Quoting: Mister Y 33140483

Here's a thought! People trying to smoke get these patches that deliver, if I"m not mistaken, low doses of nicotine.

How about you or I using the patches? Would we get nicotine's beneficial effects without the risk of inhaling toxic smoke?

If so, can someone share with us all the bad aspectrs of nicotine when not obtained via tobacco?

The ensemble of studies to date suggest that under certain conditions nicotine can act as an anxiolytic and an antidepressant, but that following chronic use, adaptations to nicotine can occur resulting in increased anxiety and depression following withdrawal. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Psychiatric research has documented that enhanced noradrenergic postsynaptic responsiveness in the neuronal pathway (brain circuit) that originates in the locus coeruleus and end in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala is a major factor in the pathophysiology of most stress-induced fear-circuitry disorders and especially in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The LC neurons are probably the origin of the first or second “leg” of the "PTSD circuit." An important 2005 study of deceased American army veterans from World War II, was shown combat-related PTSD to be associated with a postmortem diminished number of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) on the right side of the brain.The locus coeruleus may figure in clinical depression, panic disorder, and anxiety. The locus coeruleus is activated by stress, and will respond by increasing norepinephrine secretion, which in turn will alter cognitive function. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Systematically administered nicotine in low doses increases the firing rate of rat locus coeruleus (LC) neurons. In the present study, this action of nicotine was found to be prevented by pretreatment with kynurenic acid (1 &#956;mol; i.c.v.). [link to www.sciencedirect.com]

Contrary to a widely accepted theory, increased activity of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons does not appear to potentiate anxiety; instead, the influence of LC activity may be opposite to this. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Previous electrophysiological experiments have shown that the marked but short-lasting excitation of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons seen after systemic administration of low doses of nicotine is of a peripheral origin. In addition, nicotine induces a weak but more long-lasting activation of LC neurons which is preferentially observed following administration of high doses of the drug. [link to link.springer.com]

Quoting: Mister Y 33140483

Here's a thought! People trying to smoke get these patches that deliver, if I"m not mistaken, low doses of nicotine.

How about you or I using the patches? Would we get nicotine's beneficial effects without the risk of inhaling toxic smoke?

If so, can someone share with us all the bad aspectrs of nicotine when not obtained via tobacco?

Notice how in a lot of recent Hollywood movies smoking is made popular again. For a long time, you would rarely see an actor smoke on the mainstream screen, now it sort of comes back.

I know people who died of lung cancer and never touched a cigarette in their entire life as well as people who smoked their entire life and died of old age. I for one don't worry or wonder about all this anymore, I enjoy a casual cigarette and even some cannabis every once in a while.

I think there's a difference though between normal and natural tobacco, as its mostly all the additives in the industry tobacco that harm the body.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 33197930

I have noticed! Interesting.

And yes, agree- the additives/ chemicals. So many natural things ruined/ corrupted in this way.

Detection of oncogenic viruses SV40, BKV, JCV, HCMV, HPV and p53 codon 72 polymorphism in lung carcinoma.Of all possible combinations of virus co-detection, only SV40-HCMV association was statistically significant (OR=5.500, 95%CI 1.43-21.02; p=0.015). Taken the known mechanisms of these individual viruses, there is a chance that these viruses could affect cell cycle control and inhibit apoptosis, thus potentially causing genetic instability and promote oncogenesis. [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors, but most often persists as a latent infection.SV40 became a highly controversial subject after it was revealed that millions were exposed to the virus after receiving a contaminated polio vaccine. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

If reading is too demanding for you, you still can listen to Dr. Trent, from 0:23The Exploding Autoimmune Epidemic - Dr. Tent [link to www.youtube.com]

Interview with Baron Benjamin de Rothschild [link to undeletedevidence.blogspot.com] "Our interlocutor turned out to be easygoing, quick to laugh and a chain-smoker. In the course of our 90-minute interview he polished off an entire pack of Marlboro Menthols."

Dr. Heath Motley says:June 2, 2012 at 6:30 pmThe International Society for Fluoride Research(ISFR) has reported studies implicating fluoride as a cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disorder, autism, down syndrome. There's more. Fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac, Fontex, Ladose, Sarafem.) Fluoxetine is an anti-depressant, anyone who knows what these evil drugs are capable of will know the danger this presents. Another use for Fluoride? Methylphosphonofluoridate, or Sarin nerve gas or more commonly know as mustard gas. Ever wonder how the Nazi's were able to get millions of Jews to walk themselves into their own death willingly? Fluoride has a profound effect of causing people to become more docile and open to suggestion. It makes you think twice about why people in this country don't seem to care about whats going on. Its not their fault entirely. There is so much more on fluoride, I could put a lot more, but now I will show you where nicotine fits into the picture. Nicotine, most know of it through smoking and tobacco use. I've always wondered why the US Government is so adament with anti-smoking and tobacco usage. The carcinogenic properties are bad yes, i don't condone smoking. I do however condone nicotine gum, or other nicotine treatments. Here is why. Nicotine has an adverse effect on fluoride. REmember how fluoride inhibits choleric activity? Nicotine excites them, rebounding and undoing fluorides effect. Nicotine is being used as a treatment for ADD and ADHD, Alzheimers, Parkinson's disease. I will not list the rest, for every single ailment fluoride is known to cause, nicotine has the reverse effect. It makes you wonder, why people who smoke may find a considerably less effect from prozac and other anti-depressents. Why most people with ADD and ADHD develope into smokers. [link to www.wakingtimes.com]

The reason smoking is so addictive is because the nicotine reaches the brain in 7 seconds. The reason for anxiety is the body sending out signals for its next fix. So approximately 10 minutes after smoking a cigarette the body begins detoxing and the level of anxiety begins to increase - meaning the level of nicotine needed to stay in a state of perceived relaxation increases.

In addition, there have also been numerous studies of how secondhand smoke affects infants and children creating respiratory problems and asthma. Secondhand smoke also negatively affects the health of those who do not smoke. Then there is the risk to increased heart disease and of course lung damage.

Nicotine as with caffeine and even marajuana all have their medical benefits. However, it's the delivery of the drug into the system as with marajuana and nicotine that needs to be taken into account. There is no need for thousands of non-smokers to have to suffer the negative heath consequences of secondhand smoke if the drug is used in a prescription form. Nor would the negative health effects of smoking be a consideration if the drug was introduced biochemically in a different manner other then smoking.

Working in a psychiatric hospital I saw how some doctors pushed the patients into smoking for a variety of reasons. The first being to help patients with their boredom and the second to use their subsequent addiction as a means to manipulate their behavior with regard to a reward and punishment system. Smoking gave the patients something to do along with else to think about.

Are you aware that when a smoking pregnant woman gives birth - the baby is also addicted?

Smoke from cigarettes also seeps into the walls, clothing, curtains and interior of cars where children live or play. It gets all over the windows leaving a film and created all types of damage that the owners of various businesses who had allowed smoking in their establishments had to pay to be cleaned up. Then their is also the lost time at work where the smoker had to go out and get their fix that the employer was paying for too - along with the health care costs of other employees who suffered from working in a smoke filled environment.

As for the depression following withdrawal - this is a given for almost any addictive substance that someone is trying to detox from. Cognitive function was first impaired upon someone's experience of trauma. Trauma can occur in a variety of ways and the brain adapts to a new dysfunctional behavioral pattern as a means of survival. Subsequently, when an individual become emotionally or physically overwhelmed they tend to fall back to earlier coping skills that they learned in the earlier part of their life - which don't necessarily work the best as an adult.

However, there is another type of trauma (loud noises from bombs, head trauma from a variety of impacts to the skull) which actually create brain injuries/damage and is identified as another type of PTSD. And there is the type of trauma from child sex abuse that also results in PTSD. I've worked with both type of adult patients as their doctor and seen good results with PDST from a specific type of NeuroFeedback systems treatment utilizing glasses with flashing lights.

For example, this is disEntrainment through photo-stimulation. By sending specially calibrated flickering light through the eyes and into the brain, ROSHI In-Sight Glasses help “DisEntrain” the mind, freeing it from its unhealthy cyclical patterns. The brain attain a meditative “normalized” state in which it becomes totally at rest …yet attentive at the same time—similar to the brain of a Zen Master. It is in these “quieter” EEG moments that the brain “corrects” itself.

The lights in ROSHI In-Sight glasses create an LED and MagStim flicker, driven by a Dynamic Vector Equilibrium algorithm, contained within the NeuroDynamic Activator. This presents the brain with a complex set of phase instructions that it must accurately follow, in order to correct its own internal phase vector errors—true linear to non-linear transformation, in real-time. It is with this unique method that the brain performs its own neurofeedback duties, without any outside human intervention or drug stimulation.

The goal is to have a healthy body sans drugs when possible.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.Winston Churchill

Dr. Heath Motley says:June 2, 2012 at 6:30 pmThe International Society for Fluoride Research(ISFR) has reported studies implicating fluoride as a cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disorder, autism, down syndrome. There's more. Fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac, Fontex, Ladose, Sarafem.) Fluoxetine is an anti-depressant, anyone who knows what these evil drugs are capable of will know the danger this presents. Another use for Fluoride? Methylphosphonofluoridate, or Sarin nerve gas or more commonly know as mustard gas. Ever wonder how the Nazi's were able to get millions of Jews to walk themselves into their own death willingly? Fluoride has a profound effect of causing people to become more docile and open to suggestion. It makes you think twice about why people in this country don't seem to care about whats going on. Its not their fault entirely. There is so much more on fluoride, I could put a lot more, but now I will show you where nicotine fits into the picture. Nicotine, most know of it through smoking and tobacco use. I've always wondered why the US Government is so adament with anti-smoking and tobacco usage. The carcinogenic properties are bad yes, i don't condone smoking. I do however condone nicotine gum, or other nicotine treatments. Here is why. Nicotine has an adverse effect on fluoride. REmember how fluoride inhibits choleric activity? Nicotine excites them, rebounding and undoing fluorides effect. Nicotine is being used as a treatment for ADD and ADHD, Alzheimers, Parkinson's disease. I will not list the rest, for every single ailment fluoride is known to cause, nicotine has the reverse effect. It makes you wonder, why people who smoke may find a considerably less effect from prozac and other anti-depressents. Why most people with ADD and ADHD develope into smokers. [link to www.wakingtimes.com]

For example, this is disEntrainment through photo-stimulation. By sending specially calibrated flickering light through the eyes and into the brain, ROSHI In-Sight Glasses help “DisEntrain” the mind, freeing it from its unhealthy cyclical patterns. The brain attain a meditative “normalized” state in which it becomes totally at rest …yet attentive at the same time—similar to the brain of a Zen Master. It is in these “quieter” EEG moments that the brain “corrects” itself.

Quoting: Alexander

Curious - are these glasses available to the public? Do they aid in reaching and holding the alpha state?